Schoenmakers’ project “The Origins of Evolution” examines the application of evolutionary theory to the origin and early development of life.

We look forward to having Kevin Lala in our midst again. Kevin is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews (Scotland), and also serves as an External Faculty of the KLI. In their latest book, Evolution Evolving: The Developmental Origins of Adaptive Diversity (Princeton University Press, 2024), Kevin and his co-authors makes the scientific case for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. While the book is aimed at a specialist audience, it is written in a way that makes it accessible to general readers as well.

Lala's stay at the KLI is a joint visiting fellowship with Gillian Brown to work on their project 'Promoting a Progressive Vision of Evolutionary Science'.

Project: Transdisciplinary research and its scientific impact: Insights and implications from health research and sustainability research on interconnected health-environmental challenges, collaborative approaches, and structural development in science

Brown's stay at the KLI is a joint visiting fellowship with Kevin Lala to work on their project 'Promoting a Progressive Vision of Evolutionary Science'.

We warmly welcome our new Writing-up Fellow Franziska Reinhard to the KLI! Franziska is currently a PhD researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Vienna. Her PhD project studies practices from origins-of-life research from a philosophy of science perspective, combining aspects of general philosophy science, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of the historical sciences. Franziska has completed a BA in Chemistry and Philosophy at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, and an MA in Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. (Click on title to continue...)

Enrico Petracca’s project “Embodied Rationality: Normative and Evolutionary Foundations” introduces a novel naturalistic perspective on rationality, called "embodied rationality".

We are very happy to welcome our new Post-Doctoral Fellow Elis Jones here at the KLI. Elis had earlier come to the KLI as a Visitor Fellow in 2022. Since then, he has been awarded a PhD degree in Sociology from Exeter University’s Egenis Centre in October 2023 for his thesis, “Understanding the role of value in coral reef science”. Here at the KLI, Elis’s post-doc project, “Theorising the Blue Economy: Connecting Economic, Ecological and Epistemic Value in Coral Reef Research”, aims to integrate the scientific and ecological significance of reef ecosystems into the emerging concept of 'blue economics’. (Click on title to continue.)

Stadtmauer’s project “The Developmental Evolutionary Basis of Tissue Type” aims to develop a theory for the developmental-evolutionary concept of "tissue type".

Hallgrimsson's project "Development and Evolvability: The Conceptual Foundations of Evo-Devo" aims to clarify key-concepts in the field.

We are delighted to have KLI alumna Barbara Fischer join the KLI again, this time as Group Leader, Evolutionary Biology! Barbara is an evolutionary biologist and data scientist with a background in mathematics and theoretical biology. She studies phenotypic evolution using theoretical and empirical approaches. Her work centers on the classical problem of adaptation vs. constraint in evolution: Why are some traits easily adapted by evolution, while others are not, with particular focus on the evolution of birth in humans. Currently, Barbara is an Elise Richter fellow at the Unit of Theoretical Biology, Department of Evolutionary Biology of the University of Vienna, Austria. (Click on title to continue....)

We are delighted to welcome our new Postdoctoral Fellow Anne Le Maitre to the KLI! Anne received her doctoral degree from the Université de Poitiers for her dissertation on the adaptation and phylogeny of the inner ear in extant and fossil primates. For her postdoc, she joined the department of theoretical biology at the University of Vienna in 2017 where she studied the evolutionary mechanisms (developmental canalisation, evolvability) underlying morphological variation from an empirical perspective. Here at the KLI, Anne's project... (continued)

Brenner's project "The Critical Role of Built Infrastructure for the Transformation towards Sustainability" examines the co-evolution of built environments and formal and informal rules that contribute to the climate crisis and social-ecological inequalities.

We are very happy to welcome our new Postdoctoral Fellow Andrea Gambarotto to the KLI! Andrea is trained in classical German philosophy and is inspired by Kant and Hegel. His research interest lies in complex systems theory, with a particular focus on the relation between teleology, agency and cognition in biological systems, and is influenced by the framework of biological autonomy. Andrea believes that bridging the classical philosophies of nature and current approaches in biological theory will help in advancing knowledge in both sides. (Click on the title to know more about Andrea!)

KLI fellow and ecologist Roberto Cazzolla Gatti screened his 2019 documentary "Ivindo: a journey into the green heart of Africa" at our first colloquium of the fall/winter term.

Guido Caniglia (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg) gives a KLI Colloquium on January 31st, 3.00 pm.

We welcome Isabell SCHRICKEL to the KLI who will work on her project "IIASA and the Making of Sustainability Science" starting on April 23rd, 2019.

We welcome Chiara Elettra Ferrario to the KLI who will work on a joint project with KLI postdoctoral fellow Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera.

We welcome Visiting Fellow Timothy WARING to the KLI. Tim be at the institute from April 1st to 6th, 2019 and will work on the project "Expanding Evolutionary Approaches to Sustainability" together with KLI Scientific Director Guido Caniglia.

We welcome Maria Cerezo (University of Murcia) to the KLI who will work on her project "Interactions between Metaphysics and Biology: Some Study-Cases in Molecular, Developmental and Evolutionary Biology" from July 30th to September 3rd.